hala zabaneh

A deadline imposed on 22 surviving South Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban passed early Thursday, hours after the rebels demanded a prisoner swap after killing their first hostage.

Police found the bullet-riddled body of the Korean, one of a group of Christian aid workers, a few hours after the Taliban said they had executed him because talks to secure the release of eight insurgent prisoners had stalled.

a sad turn of events. but most nations will not negotiate with 'terrorists'. so it reached an impasse with neither side willing to give in to the other. and with the way things look now there may be even more lives to be lost before this crisis is over.

In a show of how things are done, 'the Islamist militia's apparent new military commander used a television interview to urge rebels to kidnap as many foreigners as possible.' All things considered, kidnapping foreigners is an effective way of getting attention to their cause. But I do not believe any self-respecting nation would withdraw their troops or do a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of their citizens. So rough days ahead.

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Liverpool unveiled the plans for their new stadia at Stanley Park. And by the looks of it...AWESOME. never seen anything quite like it before. i dun quite get the fence-like thing. sure looks good but what useful purpose does it serve??



When it is up,in 2010, it will be the 2nd largest stadium in the EPL after Old Trafford. It will seat about 60,000 people. With expansion it will eventually house close to 80,000 people!!


Of course the the feature everyone is talking about is the new fangled Kop End. It will be able to house an 18,000 strong wall of sound. If anyone found Anfield an intimidating venue before, they ain't seen nothing yet.

"...the Kop which is very much the heartbeat of the new stadium so we've very much got the tradition in that sense. There'll be eighteen thousands seats, it'll be steep raked and densely packed. We really wanted to get back as close as we could to the real heyday of the Kop. "

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Iraq and Saudi Arabia are through to the finals of the Asian Cup. That really leaves me no one to support. I was kinda pulling for australia or one of the hosts to get through, but to no avail. Of the 2 nations in the final, my heart is with Iraq, because of all the players had to go through, that to even be playing is a miracle in itself.

If anything the Iraqi people deserve an escape from all their pain and suffering.

Alas I spoke too soon:

A massive car bomb detonated in the formerly upscale western neighbourhood of Mansour in the middle of a crowd, killing at least nine men. Another 62 people, including women and children, were wounded in the blast.

In a separate attack another car bomb went off in Zayuna, a mixed neighbourhood near downtown Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 60 others.

I guess even in joy, hatred rears its ugly face.

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I case anyone did not notice Harry Potter mania is amongst us once more. We just watched the 'The Order of the Phoenix' last week, and the latest and hopefully last book in the series 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' came out over the weekend.

Movie Review:

Have never been much of a Potterhead, never will be. But that is not to say I do not realise the literary genius that went into the series. And the movies have raised the bar of what 'children's movies' can be.

For all my misgivings about Harry Potter, I have to admit JK Rowling's has indeed created an incredible and sprawling fantasy world for an entire generation of fans. The movies were a natural extension of that fantasy realm making its way from paper to reel. And how we all enjoyed watching Harry grow up, warts and all. His wonder of the marvelous situation he found himself in became our own. And his trials and tribulations were lived by every fan of his with each successive book or film.

Alas, the Order of the Phoenix was a letdown for me. Gone is the wonder that marked the earlier films in spite of the dark undertones that pervaded them. In its place are angst and rebellion. Perhaps harry and co. have come of age and the film reflects the change in their mindset. But still I feel that the Potter movies have lost that magic that made it redeemable despite all its other shortcomings.

The veteran cast of course lived up to their billing. Amongst the new members of the cast are Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood,



and Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge stood out.

Their characters really added to the film.
I never quite understand what Harry sees in Cho Chang(played by katie leung). I fears are vindicated when she betrays harry and his friends. that she she did so under the influence of a Truth Potion is a moot point. Why would Harry even look her way when he has this to look forward to:



I would have much rather have seen less of this,


and more of this,


I will be keeping a keen eye out on Miss Watson's career.

And here is a video i caught a while back which is too good to keep to myself:


And..how does this...
....become this...


Technically a great movie, but lacks the heart of the other 4 previous installments.

rating: 3 out of 5 wands

In other news,
Malaysia's biggest book chains,MPH Bookstores, Popular Book, and Times The Bookshop ended a Harry Potter book sales boycott Tuesday (July 24th) that aimed to highlight how their business is threatened by grocery megastores that slash book prices.
The three chains, which run more than 100 outlets nationwide, had refused to sell the new book to walk-in customers in protest at what they said were unfair discounts offered by supermarket retailers in Malaysia, including Tesco PLC and Carrefour.The problem? The hypermarkets had priced the book below cost. So that led to the 3 said bookstores and publisher Penguin to consider their options before deciding to pull all stocks into storage.

In Singapore, the book launch was greeted by long overnight queues at Borders amongst others. There were even sporadic chants like "Harry! Harry!" and the ever popular "We want Harry!". But this was no PAP political rally. This led a guard at Wheelock Place to mutter under his breath "Gila..aiyah..gila" with a shake of his head.

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My new printer works a treat. Yayyyyy... maybe can try to print pictures also.
Junked the old one but saved up the ink cartridges. Will pass them to Noel, as he is the only one of us who still uses the old HP All-in-One printer. Leo's and mine are buggered.

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Cleaned up all the hamsters cages and even got around to cleaning Muffy's cage bedding today. It seems his cage invites water or something. As a result his cage floor was all wet again today. So a change was imminent. But mysteriously Scruffy's bedding was all dry. Must be her feminine wiles at play.

On a lighter note, Muffy's balls look better. Balls= testicles. They looked all wrinkled and scaly-like last week. It is amazing what relative dryness can do for one jewelry collection. They appear less flaky or wrinkled. No one furry or otherwise is particularly fond of wrinkly, prune-like testicular protrusions.

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The issue with NCC has been resolved:

Dear Leon,
Thank you for contacting New Creation Church .
Our apologies for the delayed reply. We are glad that our music has been a channel of blessings and do understand where you are coming from in using them in your YouTube videos.
We are considering your request to be authorised to use our music, and will get back to you as soon as possible.

then there was the reply I was waiting for:

Dear Leon,
Further to my email below, we are pleased to authorise your usage of songs by New Creation Church in your non-commercial videos.
We would, however, like to request that you kindly acknowledge our songwriter and church where our songs are being used. I noticed that you have provided a link back to our website, which we appreciate. It would be good if you could also credit each songwriter. If you need this information, do let me have a list of all the songs you have used or intend to use, and I would be glad to check for you.

So I did the needful and all is right in my Youtube world..for now.

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Been procrastinating about working out. As is apparent to one and all, I have a tummy now! I need to start some sort of jogging and work-out program. It seems the longer I wait, the harder it gets to start again. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

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Places I wanna go to:
~ Singapore Turf Club on race day

~ Sentosa to watch the new Songs of the Sea show

~ Go Zoo with Huiling and hopefully Agnes and just about anyone that likes to go there
~ MINT Museum of Toys

~ MOST (Museum of Shanghai Toys)

~ Pulau Ubin,especially now that the new boardwalk is up.


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I still have lots of unconsumed leave and off days. Will probably have to start clearing them before years end lest they be forfeited. But with the flat coming around it would behest me to be around. And now that I am officially a married man, it would be kinda strange to go on a holiday trip alone ,without my dear wife. Will try to figure something out in the weeks and months to come.

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